Clavey

[Nathan H]

What does everything think is a good flow for the Clavey?

Is it best to do the trip as an overnighter including the upper, lower, and T runout?

Any good beta otherwise.

[Kurt Angle]

flow, probably 600 to 900 is best
I think doing the whole thing is the best, and easier shuttle as the drive into the middle bridge is infamous, upper is much easier than lower but classic. It was the tradition to camp at the bridge but this makes for a very big second day, probably want to go into lower but camping is a little limited. If you go let Chris know how his flow estimate is!

[tuolumne thomas]

Nathan-

Haven't done the lower (yet) - but I can attest that the upper is a classic - DEFINITELY want to include that on the run - plus it's a great warm up for what supposedly lurks downstream...

The only portage I can remeber on the upper is "Old and Dumb" - named after Dieter. Heh heh.

I can also vouch for the iffy-ness of the middle bridge road. The one time I did it - we set take-out shuttle at the middle bridge, and the drive was an epic. Hard to find - trees across the road (we had to muscle/tow some large wood out of the way several times) - and long.

Have fun.

[Clavey Coalition Noah]

I've done the upper a bunch of times...the lower only once. The previous descriptions are accurate. Most agree that paddling below the middle bridge is a good way to go, but you may end up camping in a tight spot. The Clavey canyon down there is beautiful beyond description and the river ecosystem is one of the healthiest and most pristine in the Sierra.
Optimum flows are 500-800 at put-in for upper. Reed Creek (3 mi downstream) will add another 150-300 cfs.
A friend of mine drove to the put-in on Sunday and estimated it was about 600 cfs.

[Thomas M]

Last year we put on about 10 and made good time to the "T" but it was getting late so we camped out at the confluence. We were going to camp in the lower but the camping options were not that great.

[Nathan H]

Hey Thomas,
So did you put in at 10AM for the upper and make it down to the T confluence by evening in one long day?

Also, what's optimum for the lower? Same as upper? Is the Hunter Bend Gauge somewhere near the put-in?

[Thomas M]

Yes, one long day. I am not very confident in guessing flows however our flow was good for the whole run and it had room for more water. There is a gauge below put in but you cannot get to it until you float by. The gauge read 2.8 ft.

[cvshack]

Originally Posted by Nathan H

Is the Hunter Bend Gauge somewhere near the put-in?

If you're referring to the Dreamflows gauge, it's a virtual gauge, but yes it's just upstream of the Upper take-out / Lower put-in. You can find the location of any gauge reported by Dreamflows by going to the cross-listing page, in this case http://www.dreamflows.com/xlist-ca.php#Site093. This gives the location in words. Click on the red/white "+" icon for a map.

[Jared]

Just spoke to Alan S. and he drove over the Clavey yesterday at Cottonwood road (upper put in) and mentioned flows were a bit more than 600. His estimate was about 800 and then Reed creek adding about 300 more just a couple miles downstream. Lots of snow hanging above that drainage with a warm spell coming. Could get big. Roads are clear to the Clavey but not all the way through to Cherry Lake.

I have paddled the Clavey a few times and on our first time down, we made it all the way to the confluence in one day as well. It was one of the longest days of paddling I ever expirienced right up til about 8:30 pm before hitting camp. Got an early start and made fast progress. I have paddled it at 700 cfs-ish and then roughly 1,000cfs and that was juicy but fun once we got used to the push. Nathan, Hunter Bend is located in the heart of the lower where the steepest sections are. Maps show the bend clearly. Camping spots are pretty hard to find in the lower.

Kurt's description is pretty much spot on.

Let's rally a big group to show our support for the Clavey River Coalition and Toulomne River Trust by taking part in paddling it during the upcoming event!!

[cvshack]

Originally Posted by Jared

Just spoke to Alan S. and he drove over the Clavey yesterday at Cottonwood road (upper put in) and mentioned flows were a bit more than 600. His estimate was about 800 and then Reed creek adding about 300 more just a couple miles downstream.

Great feedback! Good to know, thanks for sharing. Which means the Clavey estimate is way off right now. I believe it's usually fairly good in May and quite good in June. But I can see it might be suspect in April, mostly because the weather flip-flops between winter and spring and summer, and my estimating model isn't clever enough to know which applies at any given point in time. So I'm suppressing the estimate during April, and hopefully when it starts up again in May it'll be more useful. Let me know, please.